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Horsepower and Torque

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Posted by: mark0101

What is Horse power and Torque? I mean, what is the difference between them?

I have heard HP sells and Torque wins races but why is HP even needed

Posted by: rmac694203

They way I understand it is torque is the 'power' that the engine actually makes. Meaning that it is the turning force that the engine makes. Horsepower is a measure that takes into account not only the 'turning force' but actually the turning speed of the engine. That's why many small 4 bangers and such can make big horsepower with not a lot of torque, because they can rev up so high. Same thing with Ferraris and whatnot, they don't make a ton of torque, but they rev like a mother and can make a ton of horsepower.

Posted by: poniesviii

Learn this. :

Torque gets you there; horsepower keeps you there.

Posted by: poniesviii

For example, if you had 50 ft lbs of torque and ten thousand horsepower you'd lose to a 600/600 vehicle.

Posted by: MediumD

Can of worms: open.

Posted by: Dr. Paul

*THE FOLLOWING IS OVERSIMPLIFIED*

Torque is a measure of rotational force. This is essentially the raw twisting power of the vehicle's wheels.

Horsepower is a calculated figure representing (again, way oversimplified) essentially how quickly you can make that torque. It is Torque/Time.

I would just look it up on www.howstuffworks.com for a more detailed explanation.

Paul.

Posted by: unity

Yet another way to think of it. One man has one strength, i.e. he can lift 100 lbs. So strength = HP

No have this man install a hub assembly nut. If you give him an 8" wrench, it will be vary hard to tighten it down. Not enough torque.

Give him a 4 foot wrench and he can tighten it no problem at all. He has not gained strength, just additional torque.

So in short, high horse power coupled with high torque is a good thing™. The more HP you can apply to the wheels nets high torque, this can be done with BIGGER gears like a bigger wrench.

Posted by: poniesviii

Those are good examples..

some useless points from my understanding:

If you understand how an engine works (duh, most of you do) Pretty much, The longer the stroke the more torque, the bigger the bore the more horse. ..

Torque isn't what eats gas, it's horsepower. So, if you want alot of torque and not so much power you'd go with a small bore stroker. The larger the bore (piston size) the more fuel you'll burn, (there are other factors but this is a general statement) but that creates your power. So in a sense*, torque is free power. But if your bore is way small, you have no power creating the torque. The bigger the bore the more torque you can produce..

BUT

Say you have 8.5:1 compression ratio, you won't create as much torque or power with the same size bore as 11:1 compression ratio.

............

Posted by: 02LSE96LSC91SE84TC

Quote:

Originally Posted by MediumD

Can of worms: open.

Agreed.

Posted by: poniesviii

Quote:

Originally Posted by 02LSE96LSC91SE84TC

Agreed.

Why? Either it's understood or it isn't.. . There's different ways of explaining it, I don't think any two explanations so far have had any contradictions.

Posted by: 02LSE96LSC91SE84TC

Quote:

Originally Posted by poniesviii

(there are other factors but this is a general statement)

Agreed.

Posted by: poniesviii

Quote:

Originally Posted by 02LSE96LSC91SE84TC

Agreed.

Gotcha

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